Foreach invalid argument - php

Question

I am creating a search function that will allow a user to search for a house in my database by postcode initially. The function can be seen below, when the function is executed and finds a true statement I get no errors however when I execute the search and I get a no fields been returned I am left with this error:
No Records Found
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/htdocs/undergradpad/search.php on line 26
I want it to display No Records Found however I don't know how I should correct the above error.
search.php:
<table width="500" border="1" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<th width="16" scope="row">id</th>
<td width="95">bedrooms</td>
<td width="140">description</td>
<td width="104">roadname</td>
<td width="71">postcode</td>
</tr>
<?php
require("classes/class.House.inc");
$obj = new House();
$obj->search($_POST['term']);
foreach($obj->data as $val){
extract($val);
?>
<tr>
<td scope="row"><?php echo $id; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $bedrooms; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $description; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $roadname; ?></td>
<td><?php echo $postcode; ?></td>
</tr>
<?php
}
?>
</table>
classes/class.House.inc:
<?php
include("connect/class.Database.inc");
class House extends Database {
public function read(){
$query = "SELECT * FROM houses";
$result = $this->mysqli->query($query);
$num_result = $result->num_rows;
if($num_result > 0){
while($rows =$result->fetch_assoc()){
$this->data[]=$rows;
//print_r($rows);
}
return $this->data;
}
}
public function search ($term){
$query = "SELECT * FROM houses WHERE postcode like '%".$this->mysqli->real_escape_string($term)."%'";
$result = $this->mysqli->query($query);
$num_result = $result->num_rows;
if($num_result > 0){
while($rows =$result->fetch_assoc()){
$this->data[]=$rows;
//print_r($rows);
}
return $this->data;
} else{
echo 'No Records Found';
}
}
}
?>

Answer 1

in this variable ($obj->data) you just get null data.
First check if not empty and than use foreach and don't have error if yout method don't return null data
just check if (!empty($obj->data)
{
foreach code
}

Answer 2

$obj is a House object. It has no $data property, even if you use it. The search method sets this property, but only if records are found. If no records are found, the method echoes a value.
I would change it like this: Instead of echoing an error, make the method return false:
public function search ($term){
$query = "SELECT * FROM houses WHERE postcode like '%".$this->mysqli->real_escape_string($term)."%'";
$result = $this->mysqli->query($query);
$data = false;
$num_result = $result->num_rows;
while($row =$result->fetch_assoc()){
$data[]=$row;
}
return $data;
}
Now, the function return an array of false if there is no data. You can now use it like this:
$obj = new House();
if ($data = $obj->search($_POST['term']))
{
foreach($obj->data as $val){
extract($val);
}
}
The changes I made:
- No longer set data as a property, since you also return it. You can still do that, if you like, but I think it's confusing to do both.
- Return false if there's no data.
- Change the variable rows to row, since it only contains one row.

Answer 3

if(is_array($obj->data)){
foreach code
}
else{
no record
}